Internet peak hour

Mentallic

After having just set up my modem, I noticed that it was dropping out a lot and the speed tests I conducted were far under the minimum expected by my broadband plan. However, the dropping out ceased and download and upload speeds came back to normal from midnight all the way till mid afternoon.
It seems that my net just gives up during peak hour. Not only is it incredibly slow, but it's erratic and often drops out every half an hour till about midnight again.

I had called up my ISP on the first day, and after we figured out that my router was not to blame, they said they will be sending in a technician to take a look at the problem, but now that I realize it's because of the bandwidth traffic, is there any reason for the technician anymore? Would he possibly be able to do anything about the problem, or is it just something I'm going to have to live with?


p.s. It dropped out again while I was trying to post this thread. It sure is annoying...

jbunniii

Are you using a wireless connection? If so, you might be experiencing interference from other nearby routers (or cordless phones, or whatever). You can change the wireless channel in your router's config settings. I have had this problem in the past, such that my connection was almost unusable during some hours. After switching channels it was much improved.

If it is not wireless, there could still be an issue with your physical connection even if it is only happening during some hours. I once had a similar issue with a cable modem connection. It turned out that the cable coming to my house from the street needed to be replaced.

Mentallic

I am using wifi and there are cordless phones near the modem and router, but I've also connected directly to the modem and it still drops out, so my router isn't at fault. Regardless, I"ll do some research on changing the channels.

How did you figure out the cable needed replacing? Maybe I should get a technician after all?

jbunniii

Yeah, I had a technician come out. He did some tests and was able to narrow it down to the cable from the street.

Mentallic

Thanks, I'll get a technician to see if he can hopefully improve its performance, and to settle my family because they're not very happy with it.